Way back in 2007, when voice-guided GPS systems were all the rage, I was already thinking about an untapped market that to my knowledge, has still gone unnoticed – downloadable voice packs. More specifically, downloadable ‘personality’ packs for the voice-guided portion of GPS guidance systems. I wished for three different sets – celebrities, personalities, and accents – all designed to make it more fun to use your GPS system.
While this is still just a dream for me, there are a few solutions, such as this latest one that allows you to download a voice pack of GLaDOS, the computer from the popular Portal games, to guide you through the city. You can download it from Redddit here. It’s only for Garmin units, but it reportedly works with the Garmin Mobile XT software for smartphones, and the link has an option for TomTom users, too.
I would love to see Google at least offer up an option for users to build these voice packs for the Gmaps solution built into Android themselves. I really really really hate the voice that Google uses for their voice-guided turn-by-turn directions on Android, and would absolutely love to download some additional voice packs to choose from. I certainly wouldn’t mind an English-speaking-with-French-accent girl navigating me to work each morning.
I’m also slightly evil, so I’m considering downloading this GLaDOS voice pack and loading it on my wife’s Garmin. That would be hilarious.
Ricky Cadden 